Urban Dialogues 1

“Perspectives of New Private-Public Partnerships: City Innovation Units” delivered by the Boston Office for New Urban Mechanics (MONUM). The course was attended by representatives of the Cluj companies working with the Urban Innovation Unit, as well as representatives of the Municipality and of the independent sector concerned with urban development. They discussed about analysis and forecast methods for city development, about encouraging companies to innovate in areas of most importance for the local market, about the Boston model of open innovation and the use of technology for public participation, as well as about the cultural approach to urban transformation.

The members of the teams – inhabitants of the Scorțarilor areas – Morii Channel and Bucegi – Calvaria creek -, worked with urban development experts, sociologists, traffic specialists, public administration, and event organizers to improve the planning of the experiments they will carry out in the neighborhoods. By the end of June 2018, benefiting from the support of these specialists, temporary authorizations, as well as 5,000 euros offered by the Fund’s partner companies, the two teams will test their ideas for reusing the spaces in the neighborhoods, and the results will then be presented to the Municipality for implementation and possible replication in other parts of the city. Following this workshop, the two teams from Mărăști and Mănăștur neighborhoods improved their action plan and remained in contact with the specialists most suited to their project.

Additionally, the Boston innovation unit organized a workshop reserved for the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Cultural Center, Babeș-Bolyai University and Evozon, on the use of big data for traffic management in the city, a topic that Boston excels at. Following this workshop, we launched the working group for the Mobility Pact.